


T/J6 (?o*P 7Zm* 



The Good Time Coming. 



When everybody can have a real genuine home 

without fear of poverty, and one which nobody 

can turn them out from ! ! ! 



When there will be no Professional Lawyers 
and Judges to Rob and Oppress Them ! 

When Agriculture and Mechanics shall be taught in 

the Public Schools, and the unoccupied land 

shall be free to cultivate ! ! 



When all Votes shall lie Publicly Counted and Inspected! 

When all receipts and expenditures of tax moneys shall 
be given for public inspection, etc. 



HOW TO SECURE SPECIE PAYMENTS AND CHEAP MONEY. 



The use of newspapers in the good time coming, &c. 



Co-operation, Home Production, Home Consumption, 
and Plenty of Work for Everybody. 



HOW TO DO IT WE WILL SHOW IN THIS LITTLE BOOK. 

H-N &4- — ~ — V 

B^sr 'wxtjTjTa.x/l rose. 



CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, UNITED STATES: 

Printed and Published by the Author. 

1876. 



-PIRICIE TEN" OZEItsTTS. 



ft IV 4*4- 



INTRODUCTION. 

There is no Industrial Society, Farmers' Club, or Granger, nor 
any member of any Trades Union, nor any individual working man 
or woman, but what can gain some information or knowledge for 
their benefit, or satisfaction, by reading this book. 

The systems of government, education, and labor, as here set 
forth, if put into practice, would produce a complete and thorough 
revolution in all social and political systems. It would require no 
war, and no destruction of property, but simply to understand the 
principles, organize in communities, and go to work peaceably, 
quietly, and systematically, and to mind your own business, and get 
independent. 

A liberal discount from the retail price of this book will be 
allowed to Farmers' Clubs and all societies that purchase in whole- 
sale quantities* 




Entered, according to Act of Congress, 

in the year 1876, by William Rose, with the Librarian 

at Washington, D. C. 



T^E GOOD Tip COPG, 



THE OBJECT OF THIS LITTLE BOOK 

Is to show how every man and woman that is willing to work can 
earn their living with not more than three hours a day for labor, and 
that with three hours or less labor a day, at the rate they work now 
when they work ten hours or more a day, they can earn a better 
living, and have better clothing, and a better home and surround- 
ings in every way by far, than they have now when they work ten or 
more hours a day. It is not theoretical, or impractical plan, or 
proposition, but a real practical fact that any society or community 
can put in operation and test for themselves with but little trouble 
or experience compared with the advantage to be gained. 

If I can show, and any society or community can prove, that 
any and every man or woman that is willing to work can get their 
living, and a better living than they now get in every respect, in 
three hours or less labor a day, then it follows that every one that 
works ten or more hours a day, works seven or more hours a day 
for somebody else, or for something else. 

Then I claim that this same seven or more hours labor performed 
a day by every man, woman, boy or girl in the land that works is 
what goes to pay the taxes, the millionaire's interest, the interest on 
all United States debts, the interest on all State debts, the interest 
on all City and Town debts, the interest on all Private Mortgages, 
the interest on all Rail Road bonds and stocks, and on all other 
debts, and also to pay the officers of all governments, either national, 
state, or district ; to support all standing armies and navies, to sup- 
port all the police force, all the judges, all the constables, all the 
lawyers, and all the public spies and detectives, all the gaols, all the 
paupers, all the lunatic asylums, and a vast army of other officers 
and dependants who never produce anything, but only live on the 
labor and produce of others. 

These make and apply the bonds that bind the laborer and 
producer, and then help each other to apply the lash and the spur 
to keep them to their work, or turn them out to starve and to die 
'a pauper's death. 

I have heard working men say they pay no taxes because they 
own nothing and consider themselves free and intelligent men, and 
say they do not care who is elected to office, or if they steal or not. 
when these same men, and all others in the same condition, who 
have to labor, no matter what kind of labor they do, are the very 



men and no others who pay all the taxes, and for all the govern- 
ment's, stealings, and all the officers of all the governments, and all 
the interest on all the governments and other debts, and on the 
strength of their labor is based all the credit oi the state and nation. 
All the faith and resources of the nation are based on the strength 
and ability of the working people to produce, and of the non-work- 
ing people to get possession of the product of their labor. 

Seven hours or more out of every ten that any man works goes 
to pay his master and his master s agents. 

We do not propose to distribute property owned by others to 
make things equal, neither do we propose to kill any man because 
he is rich and take and confiscate his property, as do the highway- 
man, the Paris commune, the king, andnominal Republican governme?its, 
and such like, but we propose to show, and we think we do it, how 
every man and woman can live a free and independent life, with not 
more than one-quarter of the labor they do now, and be altogether free 
from, and independent of accumulated capital. 

In this book we propose to show how in the good time coming 
every man and woman, boy and girl, can have a good home and 
employment, not compulsory labor, as is the system of labor now, 
but a real, genuine home, without fear of poverty, and one which nobody 
can turn them out f?-om. 

Mankind see in the horse, the ox, the ass, the mule, etc., so much 
muscle, or power, which they can use for their own benefit that they 
feed them good, shelter them good, and take every possible care that 
no harm comes to them. 

If they are sick they are not required to work, but have food 
and medicine found them till they get better. 

The black man in slavery is used by his owners as the horse, 
the mule, the ox, etc., is ; that is, to supply him with what he calls 
labor. If he, the slave, gets lazy, and does not work fast enough, 
the driver serves him the same as he does the horse, the ox, etc. — 
he gives him the whip. But if he is sick he is taken care of, rests 
from his labor, has food and medicine provided, has shelter and 
clothing found for himself and family all the time, sick or well. 

The poor white man is used by his owner, the rich man, or 
capital, as so much labor (they call it free labor). For every ten 
hours that he works they pay him just about sufficient money to pa> 
for his food, clothing, and shelter for twenty-four hours. If he gets 
sick he gets nothing, and has no one to take care of him. If he 
gets disabled by accident, he gets nothing and has no one to take 
care of him. When he is infirm from old age, or excessive labor, 
and not able to do a full day's work, he has no one to take care of 
him, no one to provide for him. 

In all these cases the poor 7nan suffers want, insult, and poverty. 

The number of poor, free (so called) working men is increasing 
in proportion as every kind of valuable property is concentrated in 
the hands of the few rich men and monopolies. 

The poor man is shut out from every possible way or means to 
make a living honestly and independently, as a free human being 



ought to do. He is forced to work for the rich man, and receive 
the small pittance he gives, and try to keep body and soul together 
as best he can. 

The driver of free, poor working men, instead of having a whip 
in his hand, as the driver of the horse, the mule, and the slave, he 
has the time book; if they miss a day or an hour the time is noted 
down, their wages are docked, and they and their families have so 
much the less to eat, to wear, to warm themselves, or for shelter. 

This is not so with the slave — he has all these things provided 
for himself and family whether he loses time or not. 

The poor man has nothing in this world that he can call his own, 
not one foot of land in this wide world he can tread upon and say : 
" This is mine j I can rest here while I live" No ; he is truly a 
sojourner and a stranger here without any place to lay his head. 

In such a condition of things is it any wonder that men cut each 
other's throats for money? That they will hire out as soldiers, to 
be shot at and to shoot at and kill their fellows, just for a small 
pittance of money, and that through the best years of their life ; and 
then, if they chance to live at all, to live maimed or in poverty all 
the rest of their lives. 

Why is all this ? Is there not room enough in this world for all 
to live without killing his fellow to make room ? 

Why cannot every man have his portion of this world's surface, 
to cal his own while he is here, and live upon it in ease and 
comfort ? 

Why should the rich man say to the poor man (like the dog in 
the manger): " Although I cannot use this land myself, I will not 
let you. I will see you starve first!" He says : "It is mine by 
weight of conquest — I am stronger than you. It is mine by law — I 
maae the law that says so. All your right in this world is to work 
for me, and take in return what I choose to give you. We call this 
the natural law of supply and demand. You shall supply us all the 
labor you possibly can, and we will give you a little of our money 
in return for it. 

" But you must give it back to us before you can get anything 
to eat. 

" This is also what we call equal rights. You have a right to work 
for us, and take what we please to give you in return, or starve ; and 
we have the right to employ you or let you starve, as suits us best." 

AS A REMEDY FOR THIS STATE OF THINGS, 

And as a right that belongs to us as mens and as free men we demand 
our share of the earth's surface, or what is called the public lands. 
We believe that this earth was made for man to live upon, and that 
it is his home, and that every man and woman has a natural right to 
as much of the land as they need to live upon, and support their 
families in ease and comfort. We have no use for it only while we 
are in this world with our bodies. No man, or class of men, has 
any right to claim as their own any more of the earth's surface than 
they can use for their support. It does not injure the land to 



6 

cultivate and get from it everything we need in this life. It is always 
ready and willing to give in abundance to anyone who asks it in the 
right way — by cultivation. 

We, as men, as free men and citizens in this country and belong- 
ing to this country, propose to take, to have, and to hold, each and 
every one of us who wants to, enough of this earth's surface to live 
upon, while we are here in this world, and to live like free men, to 
live honestly and support our families without being slaves to capital 
and other monopolies. 

The way we, as free men and citizens, propose to have our share 
of the public land is about like this : that all the government land 
(and we, the whole people, are supposed to be the government) shall 
be open and free for occupation and cultivation. 

Say each and every one that wants to may enter upon and 
occupy forty acres of land not already occupied, he shall record his 
occupation, and the government shall give him a deed of the same 
and to his heirs and successors, to have and to hold the same as 
their own so long as they occupy and cultivate it and pay the legal 
taxes. Everything they shall put on the land shall be their own, to 
sell or remove at pleasure. But in the land they have only the 
right to occupy, and therefore can sell no more than their right of 
possession in said land. 

This would give a good and permanent home to the poor man 
as long as he lives and to his family. He would have no fear of pov- 
erty. He would have no desire to rob and kill his neighbor, to get 
money to buy bread with for himself and family. It would develop 
the better feelings of mankind, and cause them to do good to their 
neighbors instead of evil. This need not prevent anyone from buy- 
ing all the land they wish that is not so occupied, and holding it, and 
selling it at pleasure. But such lands so bought and held should be 
open to occupation and cultivation, under certain conditions, some- 
thing like this : that anyone may enter upon, say not more than forty 
acres of unoccupied new land (that is enough for any man to live 
upon and keep his family); he shall own everything he may put upon 
the land; he may remove or sell the same at pleasure. But the 
owner, if he wishes to occupy or sell the said land, shall get posses- 
sion of it, and the occupant shall give it up to him, by his giving the 
occupant one year's notice to leave it. Said notice shall terminate 
at a time when the occupant can have had time to remove all his last 
summer's productions. 

If the occupant does not leave at the end of the year, the owner 
shall collect and have for himself one-half of all the products of 
the farm until he gets possession, and in cases where the OAvner fails 
to get possession in this manner, some other more forceable way 
must be agreed upon to get possession. If the owner of said land 
notifies the occupant to leave, and he does leave, and gives the 
owner possession, then if the owner does not occupy it, or cause it 
to be occupied, he shall forfeit and pay to the former occupant, as 
damages for being obliged to remove, a sum of money or its value 
to the full amount of half the value of the product raised by 



the said occupant the year before his removal from the land. 

This will work no injustice to anyone. Cultivating the land 
does not injure it. It would be as good after being cultivated 
twenty-five, fifty, or one hundred years. With proper cultivation, 
it cannot be exhausted while man has to live upon it. 

Some men hold land twenty, thirty, forty, or more years, and 
never make it produce one dollar's worth of subsistance for man or 
beast, and yet they will not let any other man occupy or cultivate 
it, although they may be starving from want and hunger. 

This is called Law, Justice, Equal Rights, and all that sort of 
thing, by the law makers, monopolies, and what is called the higher 
classes, or governing part of mankind. 

The time has ahnost come when mankind will want no governing 
class, but will each one as free men govern themselves according 
to well understood rules and regulations, that will be made general 
or universal with the aid of the Printing Press and the Newspaper. 

Despotic and aristocratic governments done very well to kill off 
and enslave the ignorant people before the Printing Press and the 
Newspaper were found. But now their time is drawing near to the 
end. Now, the masses can meet together in the Newspapers, there 
they can talk to each other, and compare notes ; they can talk about 
and discuss the doings and the motives of their rulers, etc., and, 
meeting in the Newspapers, can make their own laws 

REASONS WHY THE LAWS SHOULD BE MADE BY THE PEOPLE AND NOT 
BY THEIR REPRESENTATIVES. 

i. Because they are laws for all the people to obey, or guide 
themselves by, and before they can obey those laws properly and 
intelligently, they must know what the laws are. 

If the intended law is published in the public newspapers, and 
everybody has a chance to read it, and talk about it, and understand 
its meaning or intended operations, and to vote for it, then it will 
become so well known and understood that a jury of intelligent 
men would have no difficulty in deciding any case of supposed in- 
fringment or non-compliance with said law. 

2. Because the laws made by representatives are all most 
always made to benefit a few individuals, and to the dis- 
advantage of by far the greater number of people. 

3. Because all the people having helped to make the laws, 
they will try all the more to live according to them, and see that 
others do the same. 

4. Because the laws made by representatives are never known 
to the majority of the people affected by said laws, and so t the few 
knowing ones take advantage of the ignorance of all the others, 
and thereby defraud them. 

5. And because we do not want such a complicated mass of 
confusion and contradictions as we have now called law, that no- 
body can possibly understand, and that nobody receives any benefit 
fro:n but the lawyers, Judges and other office-holders and especially 
interested parties. Who made the lawyers to be our Judges and Rulers f 



HOW A JURY SHOULD BE CHOSEN TO EXECUTE THE LAWS, &C. 

The way we would choose a jury of the people to decide all 
cases of law, disagreements, criminal action, &c, would be some- 
thing like this : Every voter's name shall be registered in the voting 
district where he resides, such as city, town, village, &c, and from 
those names should be taken in rotation twelve men willing to act 
as judges, or arbitrators, in all cases whether called civil or criminal; 
to decide in all cases of disagreement or misunderstanding, and to 
pass judgment in all criminal cases, something after the manner of 
the Grand Jury passing upon cases now, only let it be the final judg- 
ment, and not commit the expensive farce of trying the case again 
before Judge, Petit Jury, and the lawyers. 

We would consider a majority of a jury of twelve intelligent 
men sufficient for a decision in all cases, except any one that might 
require the taking of another person's life. In such cases we would 
have all the evidence in the case published, and the judgment given 
by a majority vote of the voters in the district where the crime is 
said to have been committed. 

Each jury should serve only one month, and another one 
should be drawn in time to commence business when the time of the 
existing one expires. No voter under twenty-five years old should 
be allowed to sit on a jury, on account of his supposed ignorance of 
matters and things belonging to this world, and the people in it. 
Every man engaged on a jury should have a regular and fixed salary 
for his services. Said salary should be an honorable and just reward 
for services rendered, and not ■& pauper s pay, that only secures men 
willingly who are out of employment, or who cannot earn more than 
a street cleaner's pay, and who will submit to be bullied and snubbed 
and blackguarded by either Judge, lawyers, or constables. To be 
virtually under arrest all the time, and locked up in close confine- 
ment at the will of the Judge. To be watched around by secret 
detectives all the time they are out of the court-room, and are for- 
bidden to talk with any one upon the subject on trial. Neither 
must they read any comment upon it in the newspapers. Is it any 
wonder that such a jury, made up mostly of the most ignorant class 
of the people should make mistakes in their verdict, take bribes, &c. 
Twelve intelligent men and citizens can pass or give a final judg- 
ment in all cases that might come before them. If you object that 
twelve such men, being common people, do not understand the law, 
and might decide, in some cases, contrary to the law, we answer, 
they ought to know the law. They, with us all, have to live under, 
or according to the law, and there should be no laws that intelligent 
citizens cannot understand. 

By choosing juries in this manner, and letting them become the 
judges, they will become familiar with the law and its workings, and 
they will take an interest in it as an honor and a source of infsrm- 
ation and learning for themselves. 

In case the jury should need to get instructions upon any point 
in law, let there be a councillor appointed to give such instructions 



when asked for, something after the manner of City Attorney, 
States Attorney, &c, in giving instructions to city officers or to state 
officers. But let the jury always give the final decision. 

Such a jury should charge nothing, and receive no fees or per- 
quisites from any party coming before it for its decision of any mat- 
ter whatsoever; but should decide all cases according to the best of 
their ability and knowledge, with the simple guide or standard to 

gO by DO UNTO OTHERS AS YOU WOULD HAVE OTHERS DO UNTO 

you. Any voter whose name is drawn should not be required to 
serve on a jury against his will, but when drawn, his name should 
pass along, and should not be drawn again until all that are in the 
list are exhausted, and then he can take his turn again with the rest. 
When one jury in a district is not enough to decide all cases 
promptly and without delay, other juries may be chosen in the same 
way or manner, till there are enough to do all the business in the 
district as promptly as required. 

HOW TO CONDUCT ELECTIONS. 

Every voter should be allowed to send in his vote through the 
Post-office, if he wishes to, before the day set for election. Said 
votes should go to an appointed receiver, and be opened on the day 
of election, and counted with the votes delivered on that day. 

Every vote should contain the name and residence of the voter, 
whether delivered through the Post-office or in person, as well as 
the name of the man, or object voted for. 

On election day, every vote should be placed by the receivers 
under proper headings, to show who, or what the vote was given for, 
and the next day published in full, in the district, for public count and 
inspection; then a few days should be allowed for inspection, correc- 
tion and explanation, and then the number of votes, when ascer- 
tained, should be sent by the local receivers to the general reception 
office for the votes of all the local districts, there to be counted as 
a whole, and the result of the election published for the benefit of 
all whom it may concern. Primary elections, or informal voting, 
could be conducted in the same way. 

District, Town, City, County, State or United States voting 
could be done in this way. 

By publishing, the next day after the elections, every voter's 
name in full, together with the object he voted for, would give every 
one a chance to see that his vote was applied to the purpose he in- 
tended it to be, and to detect any box-stuffing and repeater voting, (Sic. 

Every voter's name and residence in the district should be 
registered and kept in some appointed place. 

If the receivers of the votes find two or more votes from one 
person, or any votes from persons whose name and address are not 
on the register for the district, or from fictitious names, they should, 
in the publication of the names the next day after the election, mark 
all those names with a star, or some other designation mark, with 
explanation, and allow those so sending them to have them corrected, 
if they are mistakes. If they are not corrected within the time 



IO 

agreed upon, they should not be counted among the legal votes 
when sent to the general receiving office, but should be sent in a 
list by themselves, as votes not legal, and therefore useless ; all which 
should be published in the general report of the result of the elec- 
tion. 

This way of voting would allow a very large class of citizens 
to vote who very seldom vote now, some because they are unwilling 
to stand in the ranks for hours together, subject to many insults and 
annoyances, for their turn to hand in their little bits of paper, 
through a little hole, to a few men who do all their business in secret, 
and no one of the outsiders ever knows what became of his especial 
vote — whether it was used as he intended or not. 

Another large class of people could vote in this way, who do 
not vote in the old way ; they are the workingmen, mechanics, and 
trades people, who cannot spare the time from their labor or busi- 
ness to attend in person and deposit their votes, and, by not voting, 
give all the advantage to idlers, loafers, and the floating population 
in general, to elect their men to the office of making laws to tax the 
working and industrious part of the people, for their own {the office 
holders') exclusive use and benefit. 

ORGANIZE THE TOWNS, CITIES, ETC., INTO SELF-GOVERNMENT 

SOCIETIES. 

Were all the people in each political centre — such as city, town, 
village, _&c, — organized into social and political societies, with local 
meeting places, and a central Secretary to receive and distribute 
communications, &c, each local society or meeting place could ex- 
change official business with every other local society in the same 
political district, or centre, such as city, town, &c. 

Every city or town, &c, so organized could act officially as a 
controlling power, and could take cognizance of any act of elected 
or other officers. They could, and should, demand and receive an 
official report from the Assessor, Collector, Treasurer and other offi- 
cers of all their daily or weekly transactions of official business. 
They could then consider subjects intelligently, and vote for objects 
or men who would be a benefit to and do the will of the majority of 
the people. They should make their report to the organized people, 
the same as the officers of any benevolent society, trade unions, 
farmers' clubs, grangers, and other societies. 

Every city, town, village, &c, ought to be organized as a social 
and political society for their own protection against the secret polit- 
ical societies that now control them, and which collect and spend 
their money without their knowledge, or ability to prevent it. The 
people now have no efficient way of demanding a report from any 
of their officers, or of auditing their accounts, or in any way official- 
ly and effectively to act upon their doings. 

HOW TO KEEP PUBLIC ACCOUNTS. 

All money, or value of any description, received as tax, to be 
paid into a general fund for any purpose whatever, should be re- 
ceipted for by the tax receiver, or Collector, in a public manner, and 



IT 

for public inspection, in the district where he receives the same, by 
having it published in one or more public newspapers, or some other 
suitable shape for distribution in the district where it is received, at 
least every week. Said report shall contain all receipts and pay- 
ments during the week, of every kind of tax or public money, who 
it is received from, and who it is paid to, and what for, and also 
show the balance on hand for each separate fund, and who has that 
balance. 

Every Treasurer holding public money should do the same. 
He should publish his receipts and payments, who he receives it 
from, what it is received for, who he pays it to, what it is paid tor, 
and should keep a weekly public balance of his accounts. 

HOW TO TEACH AGRICULTURE IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 

Near each school-house should be provided a sufficient amount 
of land for the purpose required, which will vary according to the 
number of scholars in the school. The land should be divided 
into small lots of equal proportions — say, one acre of one hundred 
and sixty rods shall be divided into one hundred lots of one rod 
each, and the sixty rods will make the walks or roads to divide or 
separate each lot from the other. 

The land should be prepared each season, before laying out the 
lots, by plowing, pulverizing, or other cultivation that might be re- 
quired to pnt it into good condition. 

Each of the scholars should have one or more of these lots, 
according to their ability to use them for the purposes of cultivation 
and production. At a given time each day through the season — 
say half an hour every morning — each child should be required and 
allowed to spend in the occupation of planting, weeding or cultivat- 
ing their own lots. They should be provided with tools or imple- 
ments suitable for the work they have to do. 

The teacher should superintend them during the time 
and give them proper instruction in the use of their tools, and 
the manner of planting their seeds ; to keep the ground free from 
weeds, and any other thing required. 

In such a garden the children could raise or grow a small pro- 
portion of every grain or vegetable, grass or flower, suitable to the 
climate, that is needed for the use or pleasure of mankind. 

The larger children could use two or more lots each season if 
they wish or circumstances require it — graduated something like 
this : the first year they shall have one lot each, the second year two 
lots each, the third year three lots each, and so on. 

The seeds to be planted should be selected by picking out each 
one separately, which should be the very best and most perfect seed 
to be found of its kind, and no other should be planted. Roots, 
cuttings and every other thing to be planted should be selected in 
the same manner. 

Every seed should be planted at regular distances apart, accord- 
ing to the room required to mature the plant. Every child who 
can write should be provided with a small memorandum book, 



12 

wherein they should be required to enter an account of their oper- 
ations, such as, when planted, what kind of seeds or cuttings was 
planted, how far apart each seed or plant, how many it takes for the 
whole lot, &c, and what accident, advantage or disadvantage hap- 
pened during the season. 

The agricultural school books should describe the manner of 
planting and cultivating, in every particular. Every operation 
should be described in short and simple lessons for each day, from 
the first primary lessons gradually onward as the pupils advance in 
the knowledge of their business. 

In these school books should be cuts or pictures of all the tools 
to be used, also a representation of the school garden, with each 
plat or lot shown. 

Upon some of the lots, or plats, should be shown in the book 
the manner of planting some of the many things to be planted, 
with the distance apart, whether in rows or hills. 

In the lessons the cuts should be explained, and the distance 
shown in inches, or parts of an inch. 

The produce of the school gardens, so raised, should belong, one- 
half to the child that raises it, and the other half to the school. The 
school half should be sold and the proceeds applied to buying the 
tools and implements needed for the use of the school. The chil- 
dren's half should be sold if they wish, and the money given to 
them for their own use. 

Seeds of every kind raised in this way by the school children, 
under proper direction and care, in not mixing the different kinds to- 
gether iu growing, would soon be superior to any seeds now available 
for general use. 

There should be a suitable house prepared to store the crops 
when matured, and to prepare them for sale, &c, and also to keep 
the tools in. 

As Agriculture is the basis or foundation of all other employ- 
ments that man is required to do, and without which all others would 
be as nothing, it is only right to teach it to every child — boy or girl 
— so that if everything else fails them in life they will have this to 
fall back upon as a never-failing source of supply. With the un- 
occupied land free to cultivate, and a good education in the arts of 
agriculture and mechanics, they would supply the best life insurance, 
the best health insurance, the best peace and prosperity insurance, 
in the world. It would injure no one, but do every one good. 

TO TEACH MECHANICS IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS 

would be similar to teaching agriculture. The school books 
should contain cuts or pictures of everything to be taught, with 
their explanations. These for the first or primary lessons should be 
the most simple things, such as children 's toys, made of wood, paper, 
or other suitable matei'iaL In the lessons describing each cut or pic- 
ture, should be given the dimensions every way, not only the full- 
sized article complete, but every little particular as to length, breadth 
and thickness, the round edge, or square edge, or any curve, the 
kind of joints or fastenings of the parts together, &c„ 



Let each separate part, as described, be one lesson. Let that lesson 
be perfected before passing on to the next, and so on in every part till 
the thing is completed. As the pupil progresses in the knowledge 
of the art he can be led on to a knowledge of the most difficult 
pieces of mechanism. 

In this way, in the public schools, could be taught to some extent 
every useful art or science known to man. Everything at the schools 
should be done as models or representations, but perfect in every 
part. Every child, to some extent, might be allowed to make choice 
of the particular occupation they would like to practice, which would 
develop the talent of each individual more in any particular employ- 
ment they might wish to follow. 

There should be a work-shop provided with the necessary tools 
suitable for children and the work to be done. 

Every article of clothing or wearing apparel can be described 
and taught in this way. In the cuts show the different parts of 
every garment separate, and describe it in inches and parts of an 
inch, the various curves and points in each part, how to put them 
together, and what they are when complete. // seems that this would 
be more suitable for girls in particular, and would be of great advan- 
tage for them all to know. In describing the way to make articles 
of clothing it would be good to show the different kinds of stitch to 
be used to produce the required article. This should be done by 
a cut and a very simple description explaining how they are made, 
Let the cut and description show the different kinds and sizes of the 
various stitches to be used, by giving their number as so many to the 
inch, &c. In this department of learning in the public schools, for 
girls, we think the primary lessons should be with dolls' 1 clothes, but 
be as particular in every part as if it was the highest and most effi- 
cient branch of the art. ? 

Every article so made in the public schools should belong half 
to the child that made it, and the other half to the school. (This 
will not apply to articles or structures made up of parts or blocks 
belonging to the school, and to be taken apart again for other uses.) 
The school half should be sold and the proceeds applied to the 
purchase of tools, materials, books, &c, to be used in the school. If 
any child should wish to keep the whole of any particular article 
they have made, they could do so by giving to the school, for sale, 
the same value they may have in any other article they have made. 
One great advantage of this system of school teaching is what we 
believe to be a fact, that everybody having once learned any art in 
mechanics or agriculture in their youth, never forget it, but that they 
can do the same thing again, under proper circumstances, at any 
time during their lives. 

Another great advantage in commencing to teach this system 
of agriculture and mechanics in the public schools is that any school 
district, so disposed, can do it alone. It will work as good in any 
single district as in a whole town, county, or State, and the same in 
State, county, or town, as in the single district. 

The time for taking lessons in mechanics should be, say, half 



14 

an hour each afternoon. At the end of every season the teacher 
should collect the principal facts and statistics of the school garden 
and the mechanic's shop, and the directors should have them pub- 
lished for distribution, sale, or exchange with other schools. 

In teaching mechanics in the public schools, it might be prac- 
tical to provide, ready made, for the use of the school children, in 
many cases, the separate parts of any article, made complete and 
ready to be by them put together and taken apart in turn, to make 
them familiar with every part, and the name of every part. Many 
kinds of farm implements, tools, carts, wagons, wheel-barrows, &c, 
could be made in parts suitable for the use of the children, to put 
them together and take them apart. All kinds of light carriages 
and buggies, and such things, could be made in the same way. 

Architecture, or the building of all kinds of houses, churches, 
&c, could be taught by providing small blocks, of something light 
and suitable, to represent bricks, blocks of stone, wood, metals, and 
all other things needed for the construction of every kind of build- 
ing. The same representations of bricks, blocks of stone, wood, 
&c, can be made to represent many different styles of buildings, by 
taking them apart, and putting them together again as required. 
Of course everything of this kind must be on a small scale, but the 
sizes all shown and described, so that by increasing the sizes of the 
different parts proportionately, you can enlarge the structure to any 
desired dimensions. 

Such a course of instruction in agriculture and mechanics, 
would give children at least a good general idea of what they would 
have to do in after life to get an honorable living, and would enable 
them to make intelligent selections of the business they would pre- 
fer, or was the most suitable for them. 

(The instructions of the schools now, for the most part, seem 
to leave the minds of the pupils blank when they have been 
through them, as to any ways or means to get an honorable living 
at any kind of productive industry.) 

We think this system of school teaching could be done without 
using any of the public school funds, at least, at first, till the thing 
is started, and its workings tested. It should be done by public 
subscription. We believe there are plenty of men and women with 
money to spare, who would gladly subscribe to a fund properly pro- 
tected, and put into the hands of trustees, for the purpose of giving 
it a good trial. 

I will give twenty-five dollars to start a list of subscribers to 
raise money to put an industrial school something after this plan in 
operation in any district in this State that will teach practical indus- 
try to the school children, if there are others who will subscribe 
enough more to put the thing in good working order. 

HOW TO GET FREE LAND. 

Suppose a man, or woman, who has plenty of money and is wil- 
ling to give some to benefit the poor and homeless in this country, 



i5 

was to give fifty thousand dollars distributed in this way : Let them 
buy four thousand acres of land worth five dollars per acre, and 
divide it into one hundred forty-acre farms, with a road laid out, or 
surveyed, on every quarter section line ; and then let them buy one 
hundred houses, matched or fitted for setting up, and then send one 
of these houses on to each of the forty acre farms, and then make 
out one hundred deeds, each conveying one farm with the house 
upon it, and then present one deed to each of one hundred poor 
families, and to their heirs and successors for ever, upon the con- 
dition that they occupy and cultivate the same and pay the legal 
taxes. 

Let them own and sell at pleasure all property they may put 
upon the land, but in the land itself, having only the right to occupy 
and use, they can sell no more than their right of possession. 

Have a general charter or agreement made, stating the con- 
ditions of the gift or occupancy, which should be preserved and 
kept in one or more public places in the settlement, to be read and 
understood by everybody. 

Invest the trust in a board of trustees, and their successors, 
well protected by State or United States law. 

If any person accepts one of these farms and occupies it, and 
then afterwards leaves it unoccupied or uncultivated, for more 
than one year at one time, they should forfeit all their right and 
title to the said land, and the title should again invest in the trust- 
ees, to be by them given to some one else. 

One hundred farms of forty acres each, at five dollars 

per acre, would be $20,000 

One hundred houses at one hundred and fifty dollars each, 15,000 



Together would make > „ $35, 000 

The fifteen thousand dollars left would give to each family 
one hundred and fifty dollars in cash, • This would pay their ex- 
penses there and help them to fence and stock their farms, and pro- 
vision themselves till they couid raise something the next season. 

This would be a permanent good, and secure one hundred 
families from want as long as they live, and be a good home for 
their children. 

Make a provision that no one shall occupy more than one farm, 
to prevent a few from taking them all. 

This would make a monument to any man or woman that 
would stand with the highest honors so long as the country lasts. 

How handy such a thing as this would come to some widows 
with families, to disabled soldiers with wife and family, to weak and 
sickly men not able to do a full day's work, but have a wife and fam- 
ily to keep, to broken down merchants and trades-people without 
money, whose only choice is between poverty and suicide, in either 
case with ruin aud degradation to their families. 

Who can tell the amount of good that such a system of relief 



i6 

for the poor and needy would do, or the benefit it would be to 
society at large ? How many young men it would keep from drink- 
ing, and from bad houses, and from prison, and from all the things 
that lead thereto ! Or how many young women it would benefit in 
the same way, by keeping them from the same places, and from the 
same occupations, by giving them good homes and employment, 
without slavery and excessive labor ! 

Rich and benevolent men and women, will you please read and think 
of this ? ' 

A PROPOSITION. 

I will give one hundred dollars to start a subscription to raise 
money to form a free land society, upon the principles, and some- 
thing after the same manner of the suggestions just before stated, 
provided there are others who will subscribe enough more to place 
the project well before the people by advertisement or otherwise, 
and to get one society in good working order. 

Said society should be placed in the hands of trustees, and be 
well protected by law. The trustees should be empowered to 
receive subscriptions of money or other property, donations, lega- 
cies, bequeaths, &c, all to be applied to the acquisition or purchase 
of land, to be given to the poor citizens who have no homes, that 
they may live upon it, and occupy it as their own so long as they 
live, and so may their heirs or successors. 

This would put the free land principles here stated to the test 
of showing what are its powers for good to the poor people and 
those who have no homes, and to relieve the country of some of 
the immense amount of poverty and suffering that afflicts it at the 
present time. 

HOW THE TRUSTEES OF A FREE LAND SOCIETY SHOULD REPORT TO 

THE PUBLIC. 

The trustees of a free land society should report to the public 
something like this : They shall publish weekly a full account of 
their doings, receipts of money, of donations of land or other pro- 
perty, bequeaths, and gifts of every kind. They shall state in their 
report who it is from, what it is given for, and the conditions, if any, 
to be complied with in relation thereto. 

The report shall be published as a special report of the trus- 
tees, in convenient form for distribution. 

Those entitled to receive the regular report shall be all those 
that have given or donated anything to the trustees of the Free 
Land Society. Also, all organized cities, towns, &c, where they 
have organized social and political societies, where the masses of 
the people can act in unity upon any matter of interest to said 
cities, towns, &c. Also, all farmers' clubs, granges, trades' unions, 
or other benevolent, charitable, or social societies. These should 
have the reports regularly by giving notice to the trustees of the 
Free Land Society how many copies they may require, and by pay- 
ing therefor a price that will just pay for the expense of publishing 



i7 

them and no more. The trustees shall have enough reports printed 
to supply all other public demand, and shall charge therefor a 
reasonable price, according to their own discretion. 

The reports of the trustees shall contain a full account of 
all receipts and expenditures, and a complete balance of accounts 
in each report. 

The trustees shall also keep a full and complete 'record of all 
lands and other property belonging to the society, and record the 
names of all persons that receive, or occupy any of these trust lands. 

What we understand to be a self-government society is that where 
the people occupying political divisions of the country, as now 
established, such as towns, cities, counties, states, &c, are organized 
into social and political societies, something after the manner des- 
cribed in this book, wherein all that wish can take a part, and shall 
elect their officers and receive their reports, and give them instruc- 
tion, something after the manner that granges, farmers' clubs, 
working men's and other societies usually do. 

HOW TO SECURE SPECIE PAYMENTS AND CHEAP MONEY. 

We base this proposition upon the supposition that the people 
in mass, if properly organized to act in concert, so that a majority 
can decide any question of government, or law, are the government, 
and that their representatives are only their employees, and should 
receive instructions from the organized people, and to them make 
their report, to be by them accepted or rejected, as they see fit. 

Now, then, if the organized people are the government in fact, 
then to that government we should look for improved laws, or any 
reforms in society or politics, and not make the great mistake of the 
people calling their representatives the government, and praying 
them to do something, or make improvements, which the people 
themselves ought to be organized and do. 

If the people were organized all over the country, and had a 
system of correspondence or communication, so that they could act 
in concert, or together, upon any general or public question, such as 
the money question of this time, we would suggest to farmers' clubs, 
grangers, workingmen's societies, and all other producers that they 
adopt a resolution and stick to it, something like this. 

Resolved — '* That we will sell all our surplus products for gold 
and silver, and will pay for our labor and other requirement's with 
the same, and that we will buy legal tenders and bank notes, and 
pay off the mortgages on our farms and homesteads, that were con- 
tracted with legal tenders and bank notes." 

If the producing people were united and could act together, 
they could sell all their product for gold and silver, which is always 
good both to sell and to keep. 

The capitalist buys the farmers' and others' product for legal 
tenders and bank notes, sends the surplus to Europe and sells it for 
gold and silver, puts the gold and silver into his pocket, or sells it 
again to buy paper money to pay the farmers and other producers 



i8 

with, and always keeps this sham or pogus money for the producers 
and the real money for themselves. 

The farmers, and miners, and other producers, could and should 
sell their products for gold and silver, and with part of that buy 
legal tenders to pay off their mortgages, and other debts contracted, 
with legal tenders. If all the surplus products of this country were 
sold abroad for gold and silver, and the gold and silver paid to the 
farmers and other producers without any sham money or go-between, 
there would soon be plenty of real money in the country for every 
purpose. 

Now all the surplus product goes abroad to buy gold and silver 
to pay the interest on the country's mortgages, and the people of ihis 
country are obliged to use their own mortgage notes and call it 
money, wealth, riches, &*c. The real wealth or riches of this country 
are now owned in foreign countries, and we are trying to enjoy our- 
selves by working hard to pay them rent for it, and they let us call 
it interest, because to call it rent would be vulgar, distasteful, etc. 

If you want, as a nation, to get rich, go to work as a nation. 
Let all your idle men and women have a chance to work, and dig 
from the earth surface, and frr.m the mines the riches that are there 
hidden. The riches hidden there are great, very great. No man 
can count them. Such are the only real riches in the world, and 
gold and silver will represent any part of them anywhere in the 
world . 

Now we would say, stop paying interest for the use of sham 
money. Pay your debts, and do not let your governments mortgage 
your country, nor any part of it again. Own your own country and 
its wealth, and enjoy it. Call things by their right names. Call 
wealth, wealth ; debts, debts ; taxes, taxes, &c. Do not deceive 
yourselves in trying to decieve everybody else. 

If our government was menaced seriously by any foreign power, 
or any secession of States while the people are so dissatisfied and 
so hard up, the legal tenders and bank notes would shrink in value 
to such an extent that the banks would refuse to take them, and they 
would be worthless in the hands of the people who held them. 
Whereas, if the united farmers and producers were to demand gold 
and silver in exchange for their products, they could get them just 
as well as anything else. They produce all the real riches of the 
country and they ought to have substantial riches in return for what 
they sell, and not their own mortgage notes, which at best are only 
evidences of their own debts, and not riches at all. 

If the united farmers and producers were to demand gold and 
silver for all their products, and pay it in exchange for any thing 
they might want to buy, legal tenders would soon become so cheap 
and plenty that almost every one could soon buy enough of them 
to pay off all debts contracted by receiving them, and stop paying 
interest for the use of sham or bogus money, which is ruining the 
nation and the individual. 



19 

THE USE OF NEWSPAPERS IN THE GOOD TIME COMING, ETC. 

The newspaper of to-day is owned and controlled in the inter- 
est of monopolies, and what is called the governing or upper class. 
It is used for the purpose of misrepresentation of facts and things, 
to deceive and defraud the ignorant, unlearned, hard-working man, 
and every kind of laborer and producer. The newspaper of to- 
morrow shall speak the truth, and be owned by and controlled in 
the interest of the working man and producer, and to benefit the 
ignorant and the unlearned. 

The newspaper of to-morrow shall be the public school house, 
where all can attend, both young and old. It shall also be the pub- 
lic school teacher, that shall give instruction in all useful knowledge. 
Both school house and teacher we can then put into our pockets 
and take home to our firesides, and there study and learn the art of 
self-government and self-support without injury to our neighbors. 
The newspaper of to-morrow shall be our house of congress, where 
we can all meet together and make our own laws. It shall also be 
our national law. instructor, who shall teach us all to study the same 
kind of law at the same time. 

Both house of congress and law instructor we can each of us 
take to our own homes, and there alone, and yet altogether all over 
the country, we can talk about the same things, and there, and so 
make or agree upon any kind of laws, or regulations, for our indi- 
vidual and general government that will best suit all the people. 

In so doing we will supercede and render useless that greatest 
of all evils in the world, the professional law-maker and the lawyer, 
who always have been, and now are, the direct cause of at least 
nine-tenths of all the want, distress, robbery, murder, suicide, war 
and poverty that now exist. 

Then we will vote for all laws without the use of representatives, 
(so called,) and will try all cases by a jury of the people, who shall 
have regular pay, but no fees or perquisites, and shall make no 
charge for settling the differences of opinions, or disagreements of 
any parties desiring it, without the aid of the prof essional judge and 
the lawyer. 

Then we will have freedom for cultivation of all unoccupied land. 
This is every man's natural right, and no man, or class of men, has 
any right to deprive another of it. With the land free to cultivate, 
there would be no poverty, and the long train of evils that come 
with it, and with the fear of it. We should then want but few gaols 
and lunatic asylums, as there would be but few to occupy them. 
Driving people to desperation and poverty by unrighteous laws 
fills the gaols with robbers and murderers, and lunatic asylums with 
mad men and women. 

The laws they now make deprive the poor and unlearned man 
of his natural means of existence, or living, and force him to artifi- 
cial means that compel him to hard and excessive labor all the best 
days of his life, and then to poverty, want, drunkenness, and every 



20 

kind of misery, charity, and a pauper's grave, and so on for his chil- 
dren, and his children's children, without end. 

Such things need not be. It is the learned ignorance of man 
that produces it. In this world there is an abundance of good things 
for everybody, to be had for the gathering, and without any fear of 
poverty, and to-morrow we will gather the?n, when the newspaper is 
our universal school house and legislative hall. Then we will be 
our own law makers, and the professional law makers, judges and 
the lawyers can be their own farmers and producers. 

The newspaper of to-morrow shall be our public cash account 
book, &c, where we will have a daily record of all public moneys re- 
ceived and paid, by all those receiving or paying the same ; also, the 
public journal to record the next day after every election the names 
of voters and the object voted for, in each voting district, for public 
count and inspection, and the detection of repeaters, box stuffing 
and other frauds, &c, &c. 

SURELY THE GOOD TIME IS COMING. 

CO-OPERATION, HOME PRODUCTION, HOME CONSUMPTION, AND PLENTY 
OF WORK FOR EVERYBODY. 

Suppose that all local political divisions of the country, such as 
cities, villages, towns, &c, were organized into social and political 
societies, with local meeting places to suit the convenience of all the 
people, and with a central secretary to receive and transmit com- 
munications from one meeting place to another, and to keep a record 
of all the meeting places, &c, then they, as a political body, could 
discuss, and talk about, and act intelligently upon any subject that 
might be of advantage or disadvantage to them. They could decide 
what improvements they would have, and who should do them, and 
what their cost should be. They could decide what tax was needed, 
and how the taxes should be collected, and who should collect them. 

They could then choose all their officers understandingly and 
with regard to the particular business they were to perform. They 
could receive and audit accounts of all their officers at regular and 
stated times, and see that all things progressed according to their 
wishes. They could then make for themselves social or society 
meetings where all could make better acquaintance with one another, 
and become more friendly and neighborly, than under our present 
social and political arrangements. 

If any sections of the country were organized something after 
the manner just stated, how easy it would be to turn them into 
co-operative, or manufacturiiig societies, and secure to every one 
plenty of remunerative employment. 

The way to do it might be something like this : Raise a sum 
of money sufficient for the purpose, either by voluntary contributions 
or by taxation, and with it put up public work-shops or manufactories. 
These would require to be of sufficient size to accommodate all that 
would want to use them. 

There would need be sufficient power in each building to run 



21 

one main shaft. Steam, or water, or wind, or any other power that 
would answer the purpose would do. The building should be 
divided into rooms, or compartments, to accommodate any variety 
of manufacture or employment that might be needed in the locality. 
There should be pulleys and belts attached to the main shafting and 
made to connect with proper attachments in all of the rooms or 
compartments. This much should all be public property, built at 
the public expense. Have no debt or mortgage attached 
to it. Pay no interest for anything belonging to it. (Inter- 
est is now ruining every industry, and every individual, and 
the nation.) Let all these departments in the work-shops, and the 
use of the power and machinery, be free to all the residents in the 
political district that put up the establishment. 

Now let any one attach any machinery they like at their own 
expense, for any manufacturing purpose whatsoever, providing it is 
not injurious to the property or other persons employed. Let no one 
claim any right to any department, or any of the main power or 
machinery, any longer than they are actually using the same. 

Let no one make the public buildings a storehouse for goods, 
either manufactured or not manufactured. 

Require all private machinery to be removed from every depart- 
ment of the building as soon as it has stopped work, to leave the 
room free for any one else that may want it. 

Employ a superintendent to see that the whole establishment is 
kept in good order, and have men under him to assist in doing the 
necessary labor. Have a secretary to whom the superintendent shall 
report, who shall keep a strict account of all the business belonging 
to the establishment. The secretary shall report to the whole of 
the people in their organized condition as a social and political 
society, and shall receive his instructions from them. 

To pay the expense of keeping the accounts and running the 
machinery, and making any repairs that may be needed, every one 
that uses it could be charged so much per day. The charge per day 
would be but very small as there would be no interest to pay for any 
mortgage on the premises, and the salaries of the employees need 
not be very extravagant. 

I claim that co-operation of this kind would be very beneficial 
to the working class. They could procure the raw material and 
make almost all their own clothes at very little cost. They could 
procure the material and make the best of articles of every kind ; 
the more skillful the workman, or workwoman, the better the article. 

Each family could then become an independent business firm of 
manufacturers. They could be free from and independent of the 
capitalist. They could buy the raw material in small quantities for 
cash, and sell their product for cash, in the best market, and for the 
best price they could get. ) 

In many parts of the country every family could raise almost 
all the raw material to make all the clothes they need, such as cot- 
ton, wool, flax, &c, and with a public manufactory, or workshop, as 



22 

here described, near at hand, they could make all their own clothes 
and of the very best quality at very little expense. They would no 
longer have the necessity of dressing in homespun of the coarsest 
kind, but they could wear the best and sell the worst to the non- 
workers that wear the best now. 

If they owned a small farm it would take but very little time to 
raise all the family wanted to eat. 

If your farm is out of debt, and no interest to pay for mortgages 
on it, it would take but a few hours a day to produce and manufac- 
ture all your family need to eat and for clothing. Any other time 
you might wish to spend in labor you could earn something for 
profit, or to lay by; or you could spend your time in making your 
home comfortable and beautiful; or in reading or social enjoyments 
and attending to your political business, or the way the governments 
are carried on, and the way they should be carried on, if you want to 
be a member of a free Republican country wherein the people rule. 
The people cannot rule unless they study the science or art of 
government. 

Such a system of co-operation as this, applied in every section 
of the country, would enable the workingman and woman to apply 
the benefits arising from labor-saving machinery to reduce the hours 
of labor and toil that they are now obliged to perform. 

The mechanics and workingmen as a general thing would not 
then be obliged to work for wages when they can get work, and 
starve when they cannot get it, but they could be their own masters, 
they could work when they pleased and at what they pleased. They 
could use their own wisdom or judgment as to what they could do 
the best, or what they would like to do. There would then be no 
necessity of continuing at one monotonous trade, day after day and 
month after month and year after year all the best part of our lives. 
They could rest when they wanted to and work when they wanted 
to without any fear of poverty. 

Such a system as this of co-operation and manufacture and pro- 
duction, if carried on strictly for cash, which it easily could be, it 
would burst the bands of capital which enslave all and let the working- 
man go free. Then labor and the laborer would be honorable and 
honored, and the best man or woman would win. 

Such a system of co-operation as this, could be worked in any 
part of the country and at any business. 

The cost of erecting the necessary establishments in localities 
where water power or windmills could be used, would not be very 
great compared with the advantage to be gained by it. 

A PROPOSITION. 

I will give one hundred dollars to start a subscription to put up 
a public manufactory, something after this plan, in operation in any 
part of the United States, provided there are others who would sub- 
scribe enough more to put the thing in good working order, and 
make it perfectly free, without a debt of any kind, for the use of the 



23 

people of any town or local division of the country where it is 
erected. 

With the new land free to occupy and cultivate, and agriculture 
and mechanics taught in the public schools, and public workshops 
or manufactories established all over the country, what is to prevent 
the citizen of the United States from getting rich and independent ? 
If the citizen is rich the country is rich. Now the citizen is poor 
and up to his eyes in debt, and the country is poor and over head 
and ears in debt. What is to be done? Will you adopt some plan 
to make the citizen rich and out of debt, or will you continue on in 
the course you are going and lose your Republican country, and con- 
tinue bound slaves to capital and poverty, and so your children after 
you forever ? Let each one answer for himself, and to himself, and 
come to some decision. 

I should be glad to correspond with any persons or societies 
who may find themselves interested in any proposition or statement 
I have made in this book, and will give them any information or 
explanation they may require as to my meaning or wishes in the 
matters there stated. Address, WILLIAM ROSE, 

West 43d St., Union Stock Yards. 

Chicago, Illinois-^ United States. 



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